you’re not ready for surgery

After telling me of his horrific shoulder pain, and his hopeless resistance to surgery despite having had no luck with physical therapy over a number of years and different therapists, he was still dealing with pain on a daily basis. He was staring down what he felt was an inevitable operating table. I had a breif conversation with him about what he learned (and didn’t learn) in physical therapy, and it was clear: I could teach him how to fix his shoulder, and I proceeded to do just that.

So, let me be clear about what I do.

My specialty is working with people in (or with a history of) chronic/acute pain on getting as strong, mobile, and as pain free as they’ve ever been. The work I do with them is always different from the work they have done with anybody else, including their many months in physical therapy. I can guarantee the work will be different within the first session. If after our session they feel they have already heard what I told them, have previously been taught how to execute it correctly, and yet it still didn’t work, I’m happy to suggest they move on.

But that hasn’t happened yet.

If you haven’t tried what I teach in a one-on-one setting, you’re not ready to say you’ve tried it all and you’re resigned to living with your pain. You’re not ready to say you’re ready for surgery.